If you only have time for one thing in Milan, make it the Duomo. Period. This isn’t a suggestion or a tip — it’s a fact. The cathedral itself is impressive, but the real experience is up on the rooftop. Among the statues, above the city, where everything feels a little farther away — yet somehow you feel closer to something.
I hadn’t planned on going up. There was no checklist titled “What to See in Milan.” I was just standing there in the square, and somehow it wasn’t a question. The sun was shining, the piazza was buzzing with people, and the Duomo looked like something out of a dream — a fantasy building dropped into a movie set. But when I reached the rooftop, that’s when it became real.
The stairways are narrow and winding — sometimes you catch a glimpse outside, sometimes not. It feels like climbing a secret passage where no one promises what’s at the top. Then suddenly you step into the light, and there it is: Milan at your feet, and the Duomo all around you.
And it’s not just a view. It’s another world. The statues are right there beside you — not above or below, but eye level. Some seem joyful, some angry, others unreadable. Yet somehow, they all feel alive.
I touched one of the stone carvings. I don’t know why. It was cold, smooth, and incredibly old. And for a moment, it hit me: for centuries, people have climbed up here just to look around, to pause, to be still — just like I did.
The Madonnina stood up there too, golden and slender, higher than anything else in the city. And below, the square looked like a toy model. The pigeons, the tourists, the umbrellas of cafés — everything moving, everything alive, and yet from up here: quieter. Softer.
The descent led through the interior of the Duomo. And if the rooftop was breathtaking, the inside was something else entirely. The five naves, the 52 towering columns carved from dark stone, the patterned floor of black, pink, and white marble — all cast in a filtered half-light by magnificent stained-glass windows. Each pane told stories from the Old and New Testaments, glowing like pages from a sacred book.
Then I stepped out into Piazza del Duomo — Milan’s most majestic square. Though in Italy, there’s no shortage of beautiful piazzas. But if someone asked me what to see in Milan with only one thing on the list, I wouldn’t hesitate:
Climb to the rooftop of the Milan Duomo. See the spires, the statues, the gargoyles — up close.
Because if you skip this, you haven’t truly seen the fashion capital of the world.